Falling Up
by Spike'sSavior
Summary: Bruce Wayne has been an orphan for over 10 years and sometimes it’s hard to remember a time when he was truly happy but then he meets a charismatic young man named Jackson Napier who teaches him that when you’re already down the only way you can go is up.


Ok lets try this again. Hopefully this one will be better than my last piece of crap Joker/Batman fic "Fallen Leaves" anyway tell me what you think please. Thanks!

* * *

It was the beginning of summer and Alfred had managed to talk him into taking the summer off from Gotham University. He didn't like being back in the big lonely manor but he had missed Alfred terribly and he knew that the older man had missed him.

"Will young Master Bruce be going out today?" Alfred asked as he entered the large dining room as Bruce ate his breakfast.

"I don't know Alfred, probably not," Bruce said as he poked at his scrambled eggs.

"It is my experience sir that if one is to make friends that they are required to leave the house," Alfred said. Bruce was a nice boy but he was terribly shy some times and had few if any friends. It would be nice for the older man to see his ward having fun for a change.

"I know Alfred," Bruce said with a sigh. "I guess I will go out today."

"Wise choice sir," Alfred said with a small smile.

Bruce finished his breakfast and made his way back up to his room and grabbed his wallet and keys before making his way down to the garage that housed his three cars. He figured he would probably get more as time went on seeing as how he loved cars, they were his one vice. However, three would do him for the moment.

"What time should I expect your home sir?" Alfred asked from the doorway as Bruce decided on taking the Mustang, it was the least flashy car he owned and he didn't want to attract too much attention to himself.

"Don't wait up," Bruce said with a small smirk.

Alfred watched him drive off and he felt satisfied with himself as he went to do his regular duties around the manor.

* * *

He decided that the best place to meet people his age was at the local arcade. He wasn't very good at video games but he could at least try. He entered the darkly lit establishment, the only light seeming to come from the neon lights from the games themselves. The carpet was dirtied with old nacho cheese and spilt soda, the smell of smoke and musk coated the place, and Bruce could hardly hear himself think over the pounding techno beat coming from worn out speakers.

He kept his head down as he walked past groups of laughing teens playing skee ball over to the change machine and pulled out a five dollar bill from his wallet, feeding it into the machine and getting 5 dollars in change back.

His pockets jangled as he walked over to an empty game station. Galaga was the name of the game and it only cost 25 cents to play. Inserting a quarter he saw that it was a space game where the gamer had to shoot at enemy ships at the top of the screen.

Bruce was horrible; he only killed one of the enemy ships before getting blown up by one of their missiles. He frowned and got ready for his second try. He killed three before one of the ships crashed into him causing him to explode. He killed none on his third and final try.

He heard a loud merry laugh behind him and he turned to see that a teen with short brown hair and green eyes had been watching the game over Bruce's shoulder.

"You really suck at this game," the teen said over the deafening music and Bruce frowned not liking the teen immediately.

"And you can do better?" Bruce snapped.

"Of course," the teen said cockily as he pushed Bruce aside and fed a quarter into the machine. Bruce watched as he took out the first wave of invaders with ease. He looked at the teen that had an enormous grin on his face but Bruce could see in his eyes that he was totally focused and serious to what was happening in the game.

"Come here," the teen said as he was about to start the 8th level.

"What?" Bruce shouted.

"Come here man, you're never gonna learn just by watching," he said as he pulled Bruce in front of him. The teen was a foot taller than him so he could easily see the screen even with Bruce standing in his way. "Alright, you press the firing button and I'll steer ok," the teen said and Bruce just nodded figuring he'd humor the taller teen.

He pressed the firing button at a continuous pace as the teen maneuvered back and forth across the bottom of the screen, avoiding missiles and ships as Bruce took them out.

"Yea there ya go, see it ain't so hard," he said next to his ear and Bruce nodded a small smile spreading onto his face.

The levels got steadily harder and the brown haired teen's expert maneuvering didn't help them on level 14 and they were swiftly killed off. Bruce listened to the boy laugh triumphantly.

"Hey we make a pretty fuckin good team huh," he said and Bruce smiled shyly.

"Yea I suppose we do."

"Hey what's your name man?" the teen asked.

"Bruce," he said as he held out his hand. The teen low fived him instead of shaking his hand as Bruce had intended.

"Hey, I'm Jackson, but everyone just calls me Jack or Jackie," the teen said.

"It's nice to meet you, thanks for helping me out," Bruce said, being as polite as he could. He was totally out of his element and he wasn't sure how to act.

"Hey come on lets get the fuck outta here and go get some eats it's almost noon," Jack said as he grabbed Bruce's hand and led him through the packed arcade towards the door.

Even though Gotham was usually always overcast, coming out from the near pitch black arcade into the light of day stung his eyes and it took him a moment to get his bearings.

"Come on, there's a Waffle House not too far from here, we can walk," Jack said as he took a left and walked away from Bruce. He stared after Jack as he walked away and he wasn't sure if he actually wanted to go with the teen. He was interesting and had taught him to play a video game but he wasn't sure how well the two would get along.

Bruce was dressed in a nice button up shirt and designer jeans and Jack had on a faded black Clash T-shirt and blue jeans with about seven different holes in them. At first glance they were from completely different worlds.

"Hey, ya comin?" Jack asked and Bruce snapped back to the present.

"Guess it wouldn't hurt," he mumbled to himself. His objective for the day was to make a friend so he had to at least try.

Bruce quickly caught up with Jack who was standing with his hands shoved into his pockets, grin on his face.

"So do you naturally suck at Galaga or was that your first time in an arcade?" Jack asked as he looked over at the shy teen.

Bruce shrugged "My first time, thanks for your help."

"Hey no big deal, so why did you decide to come if you don't play video games?" Jack asked. The taller teen was very curious to say the least but Bruce decided to go with it. He figured Jack just wanted to get to know him better.

"I was told I needed to make friends," Bruce replied.

"Huh, no shit," Jack said. "Come on, this way," he said as he pulled open a glass door allowing Bruce to enter the restaurant.

"Everybody who's nobody comes here," Jack explained as he led them to a booth without waiting for a hostess to seat them.

"Hey Jackie, be with you in a sec," a man said from behind the counter and Jack held up his hand, giving the man the thumbs up.

"So you're being really quiet, what's up with that?" Jack asked.

Bruce wasn't used to people being so brass around him and he could only shrug and answer "I-I don't know I didn't really expect for anyone to talk to me."

"Well you have your captive audience so tell me everything," Jack said as he put his chin on the palm of his hand.

Bruce chuckled "What do you want to know?"

"How old are you?" Jack asked.

"I'm nineteen,"

"No shit, so am I," Jack said and Bruce nodded his head and Jack shrugged "Ok, I'm very close to being nineteen."

Bruce laughed and Jack grinned "What's your favorite colour?"

"Blue," Bruce answered immediately.

"Oh well that's boring come on Brucey give me something better than plain old blue," Jack said.

Bruce paused before saying shyly "Um… navy blue."

"Hmm better, last name?" Jack asked.

Bruce shifted uncomfortably in his seat before mumbling "Wayne."

"You're fuckin kidding me," Jack said with a laugh. "Oh man I try and escape and I find them anyway."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.

"Napier," Jack answered simply.

Bruce's eyes widened "You're Jackson Napier?"

"Unfortunately, I like to think of myself as just Jack, you know one of those one name people like Prince or Cher," Jack replied as he dug into his pocket and brought out a pack of cigarettes and a zippo lighter. He held out the pack to Bruce and he shook his head. "No thanks, I don't smoke."

"Oh, you want me not to?" Jack asked.

"No it's fine, with all the pollution in Gotham, what's cigarette smoke going to do to me?" Bruce answered.

"Good point," Jack said as he pulled out a cigarette and flipped open his lighter. Bruce watched him inhale as the tip was lit and he flipped the lighter close with ease.

"So small world huh, two little rich boys meeting in a shitty arcade, makes you wonder huh," Jack said before blowing his smoke upward.

"Your usual I presume, Jackie?" a woman said as she came over to the booth the two were sitting at. Jack nodded his head as he flicked away his ashes in the metal ash tray. "Hello to you too Mia, charming as always I see," Jack said with a grin.

"Shut up," she said before turning to Bruce. "And what it'll it be for your new friend?"

"Oh um just a coffee, thanks," Bruce said.

"Be careful new kid, Jack is a real handful sometimes, hope you know what you're getting yourself into," Mia said as she looked over at Jack who was currently blowing smoke rings into her face.

"Why thank you for the words of wisdom oh heinous one, now go be a good little waitress and get our order in," Jack said and Bruce shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't sure what was going on but he didn't think that Jack should be talking to the young woman in such a manner.

"Dick," she said before turning and walking away.

"If you spit in my food, you pay rent this time," Jack called after her.

Jack shook his head as she flipped him a bird and he flicked his ashes away before saying "Sorry about that, she's PMSing or something today."

"You still shouldn't talk to her that way, it's not polite to talk to a woman that way," Bruce said.

"She's not a woman, she's my roommate and a spitfire if there ever was one," Jack explained. "Don't worry, we only mean half of what we say to each other, so anyway, you're a Wayne."

"Yes I am, why don't you like being a Napier?" Bruce asked.

"Long story, don't like to get into it too much," Jack said, his mood souring slightly. Bruce decided to drop the topic for the moment, he would find out when Jack was ready to tell him.

"So, you ever play paintball before?" Jack said with a wide smile.


End file.
